The Book of Magic (1)

It was July of Founding Era 302 when Serina Rantallum, the only daughter of the fallen, obscure noble family of Rantallum, entered the Rose Palace as a maidservant to Mirabilis Luximia, the Second Princess of the Awimika Empire. Originally, maidservants to attend the Princess were recruited at the end of the year and started work from the beginning of the new year, so unless an unexpected vacancy occurred or a special accident happened, recruitment in the middle of the year was unheard of.

Since the maidservants were to be the Princess’s companions and attendants, unlike the palace maids who did odd jobs, they had to be at least members of a noble family. Those who were not nobles, those who had been disowned by their families, or those who had committed crimes or caused great scandals, or those who had close relatives who had done so, could never become maidservants. In addition, as maidservants to the Princess, they had to be able to conduct themselves with the minimum etiquette and decorum.

And Serina barely met these criteria. Although her family was a fallen noble family, she was still ‘legally’ a member of the nobility, had never been disowned by her family, and had never been indebted to the police for committing a crime.

The family fortunes had declined around the Founding Era 270, but thanks to her parents, who had received noble education when the family was still intact, she was able to barely study the minimum requirements of a noble lady. So when a palace maid from the Rose Palace visited the Rantallum family and suggested that Serina become a maidservant, her parents were overjoyed and agreed.

The stipend received as a palace maidservant was not very high. 15 Imperial silver coins per three months. Of course, this was more than enough for most commoner families, but it was not a great reward for a lady from a proper noble family. Even from the perspective of the fallen Rantallum family, that amount was not enough to revive the family.

Nevertheless, it was a position that people were clamoring to get into. The real benefit of becoming a palace maidservant was not the stipend, but the connection with the Imperial Family and the people of the palace itself.

Serina entered the Imperial Palace with the fervent expectations of her parents and a burdened heart. However, after entering the palace, she finally realized why she had been given the opportunity to become a maidservant. At least for a well-bred noble lady, it was difficult to handle Princess Mirabilis’s personality.

Princess Mirabilis was famous for her beauty. Her brightly shining golden hair, deep green eyes, red lips, and flawless white skin were in stark contrast to each other, making her look like an imaginary princess who had descended to earth. In addition, her slender face and slender figure, combined with her white dress, captivated the eyes of those who saw her.

Originally, white dresses were easily soiled and gave the impression that the wearer was fatter than they actually were, so they were only worn for special banquets, but this was not a disadvantage for Mirabilis. So in the capital (although few people had actually seen her) she was famous by the nickname ‘The White Rose Princess of the Rose Palace’. The fact that the maidservants who attended her whispered behind her back, ‘They won’t come to their senses until they’ve been pricked by the thorns of the rose,’ could not even be considered slander.

But as a woman, she was a Princess, a position higher than anyone except the Empress, and she was praised for her beauty, so her arrogance and insolence soared to the heavens. Because the Imperial Family was revered and raised from birth, it was easy to develop such a personality, but Mirabilis was extreme even considering that she was a Princess. Even ladies from noble families were suffering and quitting.

There were so many maidservants around the First Princess Padrentia who did not leave on their own that the Head Maid regularly rotated them out, and that was the way it was supposed to be with the Princess’s maidservants. But in the Rose Palace, the maidservants left on their own without the Head Maid having to manage them, so the palace staff who attended Padrentia secretly ridiculed them.

So Mullaba, the Head Maid who managed the palace staff of the Rose Palace, played a trick. She selected ladies from noble families who were in dire straits and would really try to work hard once they became palace maidservants, and had them enter the palace as maidservants. Serina’s family, the Rantallum family, was also in a situation where they would be stripped of their noble status if they passed down one more generation, so when Serina was given the opportunity to become a ‘maidservant’ to form a relationship with the Imperial Palace, the whole family rejoiced and gladly accepted.

The status of the maidservants’ families was clearly lower than that of Padrentia’s maidservants. But the number of maidservants who left the palace without being fired and had to be recruited again was greatly reduced, so Mullaba had no intention of changing her policy. Of course, there were still maidservants who couldn’t stand it and left, so the opportunity came to Serina.

After receiving hasty maidservant training, Serina met her master Mirabilis for the first time, and her heart fluttered with anticipation and excitement as she stood before the Princess. She was truly a beautiful person, as rumored.

Her glossy, bright blonde hair sparkled like midday water scales when it caught the sunlight shining through the window, and fluttered like flower petals when the wind blew. Her fair skin was lustrous and smooth as silk.

The slender body that continued from her red lips to her chin and neck drew a slender line and flowed smoothly. The snow-white tunic fluttered softly whenever the Princess moved, becoming a gentle breeze.

When the green eyes, like sprouts budding in early spring, revealed beneath her long eyelashes, calmly looked at her, Serina forgot the pressure of starting her maidservant life and felt a strange expectation, her heart fluttering like a feather.

“Are you really telling me you don’t know how to brew tea?”

But Serina’s emotion and expectation shattered like glass in an instant. Mirabilis asked if she knew the etiquette of tea parties, and Serina had learned it as well.

However, because she was a fallen noble and had never attended social gatherings with other ladies from prominent noble families, she only knew it barely. Even that was thanks to her parents, and such a clumsy level of knowledge was the same as not knowing it at all to Mirabilis.

“Why does Mullaba only attach such half-wits as maidservants? She only throws me those who are not worthy of being nobles.”

Serina, who was standing respectfully with her head bowed and her hands clasped together, gritted her teeth. The words that came from her blood-red lips pierced and stabbed the heart of a fallen noble lady like a cold blade, drawing blood. It was even more painful because it was an unexpected wound.

Although she was a fallen noble, she was still a noble. In Serina’s mind, ‘I am a noble’ was an important axis of her ego, and so she really tried not to become a ‘commoner’. To Serina, the word ‘half-wit’ was no different from saying ‘you are a commoner’.

“Those who served the Princess-nim before me were of better origin than I, but since you dismissed them, even someone like me dared to enter the palace.”

It was a very slightly rebellious line that Serina could say, implying ‘I was able to enter the palace because of you.’ Anything more than that was dangerous. But Mirabilis didn’t care.

“That must be it. How else would someone like you have entered the palace?”

Serina was already overwhelmed from the first day she started working in the palace, wondering how long she could endure serving such a master.

****************

Serving Mirabilis was indeed not easy. She had felt it from the first day, but it was very difficult to match Mirabilis’s personality. As the saying goes, ‘There is no falsehood in the palace,’ the higher the status of a person, the less easily they should change their words once they have spoken them.

If superiors easily changed their words, it was naturally difficult for subordinates to follow them, and the weight of the words spoken by the master became lighter. But Mirabilis’s words were as light as a feather, flying from here to there with a single snort.

“Damn it, what do you want me to do?”

Serina leaned against the wall in a corner of the Rose Palace library and sobbed quietly, holding the wall. This had happened several times already. Less than a week after entering the palace, Serina had clearly received Mirabilis’s permission to order a dress, but when the Princess received the dress, she blamed Serina, saying, “I never told you to order something like this.”

“But Princess-nim, I clearly received your permission.”

When Serina protested, the Princess’s slender eyebrows formed a triangle, and soon her lips opened and she called for Mullaba.

“This bitch doesn’t know the laws of the palace yet, so inflict three strokes of the cane.”

The owner of the palace had the authority to inflict up to 10 strokes of the cane independently on their palace staff without requesting the Ministry of Justice. That day, Serina was dragged away by other palace staff and beaten with a cane.

Since there was no one skilled in administering the cane in the Rose Palace, they brought in a prison guard from the Ministry of Justice who was used to beating people. Although it was only 3 strokes, 3 strokes of the cane wielded by a burly man were enough to break the flesh of her buttocks and draw blood.

“There are words of death under the tongue. That’s why I warned you so much, but you dared to put words in your mouth…”

Mullaba was not surprised, as if she had seen this happen more than once or twice, and blamed Serina in a calm tone.

“Haven’t I told you repeatedly that the beginning of palace life is three years of being deaf and three years of being mute? I know why you’re upset, but if the Princess-nim blames you, it’s entirely your fault. So don’t ever talk back in the future. If you can’t do it, leave the palace.”

Fortunately, Mullaba had asked the prison guards to be gentle, so there was no major damage to her body. She also needed to appease her in her own way, as it would be difficult for her or anyone if the new maidservant left the palace so soon after arriving.

In fact, Serina was more mentally exhausted than physically. Mirabilis didn’t care when she saw Serina entering the palace the next day, walking uncomfortably.

Serina was getting more and more tired. After that, she never dared to talk back to Mirabilis, but Mirabilis tormented Serina sometimes because she was in a bad mood, and sometimes just without thinking. Sometimes she stabbed Serina’s body and mind with words, and sometimes by ordering her to fast.

It hurts your ankle to kick a rock, but the rock called Mirabilis tormented even the ankle that didn’t kick it. It was fortunate that she didn’t easily order the cane.

Despite all this, Mirabilis never deliberately tormented her. Serina was too trivial to be deliberately oppressed. The Princess of the Rose Palace was like a navy blue sea with undulating waves to the maidservants. No matter how much the waves surged and lapped against the embankment without ceasing, the vast sea would not hate the embankment.

It was just that when boredom and resentment blew like the wind in the Princess’s heart, the annoyance rose like waves and lapped against the closest embankment, Serina. The lady of the Rantallum family felt like her heart was slowly wearing away and becoming twisted every day in the Rose Palace.

One day in July of Founding Era 304, two years after Serina entered the palace, Serina was holding back her sobs in a corner of the Rose Palace library. She tried her best not to make any crying sounds, but in the quiet library, you could hear the sounds well enough if you listened carefully. So it wasn’t a good place to cry, but Serina had no choice but to try to find a place with as few people as possible.

It was when she was holding back her sobs and taking a breath, trying not to cry out loud. Suddenly, she heard a tak sound from behind her.